A Heated Debate Between Two Charismatic Geniuses: A Cardinal Fan (Jeff Lung) and a Tiger Fan (Allen Krause)

Five seasons. Two Hall of Fame interviews. One World Series victory (well, for Jeff at least).

And now, 1,597 posts.

Red State Blue State was born out of the fiery email exchanges between Messieurs Krause and Lung during the 2006 World Series — a World Series that saw Jeff’s Redbirds trounce Allen’s Tigers (although until his dying breath Mr. Krause will blame the pitching fielding errors over an inept offense for Detroit’s shortcoming — one that would not be their last, obviously).

But it wasn’t just about the sports. Although RSBS started life as a baseball blog, the second and equally important pillar, was a shared enjoyment of the drama and often maddening inconsistencies with the American political system. We found a way to combine sports and politics with literary bindings, and from that we engaged in quite a few intellectual debates that strung our worlds together. The highlight of Jeff’s political revelations had to be his Libertarian coming out party — the one that Mr. Krause so dutifully lampooned.

For Allen, the Post-Partisan Playoff Preview presented an opportunity to truly combine postseason baseball and postseason politics into an orgy of prognostication. Sure, the only time he may have truly gotten it right was in 2008’s initial edition but he still made a valiant effort in the close but not quite there predictions of 2011 and 2010. Allen’s political evolution may have been less dramatic than Jeff’s as he stayed continuously true to his blue state roots but this led to a moment he’ll never forget, being there for the inauguration of Barack Obama.

However, probably our finest RSBS achievements have to do with a little ditty by David Archuletta and the underground hip-hop sensation, Jesus Hates the Cubs.

Today is a day different from all the rest. Today we publish our last post. It is not without sadness that we do this, but, like many others experience in life, the time has come for us to move on.

If you would like to follow Allen’s post-RSBS exploits, visit him at his new blog, The Nomadic Revue, where he will continue to provide political commentary as well as entertainment and restaurant reviews.

And if you would like to follow Jeff’s sensational running career (and all the creative introspection born from that), then check out The Run Factory.

More than anything, we want to thank YOU, dear reader. Thank you for joining us on our journey. Thank you for all your comments, all your emails, all your Twitter love.

One of the big stories of this year’s presidential election has been the Republican party’s admitted focus on getting the votes of white people. They’ve more or less given up on the hispanic and black vote so it’s white or nothing at this point.

And the strategy has been successful, at least as far as white men are concerned. The Romney campaign is absolutely destroying Obama among white men. However, among white women it’s not going quite so well.

Maybe that means that in the last day of the campaign Obama should make a new pitch to white voters. Here’s one possible strategy:

Let’s call it a political sacrifice fly. You never know what it might bring home.

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move in the opposite direction.”

Albert Einstein said that. Jon Daniels DID that.

He and the Rangers made their qualifying offer to Sir Parties-a-Lot and now they can sit back and let madness ensue knowing they’ll at least get a nice draft pick if and when some insane club with house money decides to give Josh Hamilton what he wants. (From what I have been reading on Twitter and some other baseball-centric forums, dude is asking for 7 years, $175 million.)

Right? WTF Josh Hamilton? SEVEN YEARS? ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS?!?

If this doesn’t prove Nietzsche’s god is dead lesson, I don’t know what does. Look, I’m impressed with the healthy Josh Hamilton just as much as any one else, but the problems with handing Hamilton a multi-year $100 million+ contract are as well known and documented as Hamilton is out of touch with reality.

1) Dude is a china doll. Can’t stay healthy.

2) Dude is (and always will be) an addict.

3) Dude is also a well documented RELAPSE just waiting to happen.

One minute Josh is manning left field, hitting bombs, the next minute he’s doing t***y shots off your college aged daughter, making it rain with whipped cream and pay-puh. Don’t believe me? Do some Google image searching.

Too risky. Way. Too. Risky. I wouldn’t give him anything over three years. Period. I’d pay him what he’s worth — close to the $20 million a year threshold if healthy (and sober). But no way I’d trust him for anything more than three years. His record speaks for itself.

And while I’m all for giving folks second, third, fourth chances, I’m also smart enough to know when to say when. Hamilton (and his enablers) seem to have a problem with that.

The good news, for sanity’s sake, is that most of the big pocketed clubs don’t have any room for Hamilton. I hear the Braves are interested but don’t want to be too left handed. And the breakout Orioles are in the mix too. But don’t expect L.A. or New York or Boston to go there. I’m not sure the night life in those cities could handle a potential Hamilton disaster either, and that’s really saying something.

While some are worried about Zack Greinke and Joshy Hamilton’s free agencies, I’m stuck on the suspense of which Republicrat will crush the liberty-lovin’ man into nothing. In fact, the suspense is literally killing me.

Okay, maybe not literally killing me, but it is literally making me cry. Bronco Bamma girl, I feel your pain.

I have to admit something. I watched more coverage of Hurricane Sandy hitting the East Coast than I did of the World Series. Part of this was superstition as it seemed that every time I turned on the Tigers, they proceeded to screw up. But part of it was also the sense of inevitable dread that emanated from the World Series starting during the third inning of the first game.

But it wasn’t just the putridness of the World Series. It was also the simple fact that it’s not every day that you get to watch a hurricane. More than that, how often do you get to see Anderson Cooper look like a bedraggled Chihuahua wearing a Karl Lagerfeld wig?

Maybe it would have been different if the Tigers had been at least somewhat competitive. Although it also begs the question, what would MLB have done if the Series would have overlapped with Sandy? Obviously the two cities competing weren’t directly affected by the storm but with the country’s largest media market, NYC, shut down by the storm, would it have even been worthwhile to play the games and lose the advertising dollars?

Ultimately it doesn’t really make a difference because the Series ended quickly and in a whimper. Sandy ended pretty quickly, too, but at least she let out a roar before fading away.

Well, that escalated quickly. Or maybe it’s more appropriate to say that de-escalated quickly. Seriously, for a team that closed out the Yankees with a 8-1 win, how can you go 20 innings without a run? If the 2006 loss to the Cardinals was embarrassing, this one will go down in the annals of humiliation.

However, now that we have that out of the way, the focus automatically shifts to the postseason awards. Of course the big ones that Tigers’ fans are waiting on are the Cy Young and MVP awards but there’s an even bigger award up for grabs this year.

Now, I don’t think it would come as any surprise to readers of this blog that I’m hoping for an Obama win next week. It’s unfortunate that the American electorate refuses to understand how much worse things would have been without an Obama presidency, and it’s a very real possibility that Willard and Captain Muppet could win this election.

I guess I’ll leave it at this. Look at what the candidates say and have said. See who has been consistent and figure out who you can trust. And then get out and vote.

-A

P.S. One quick question. Which is worse, getting swept or losing a 3-1 lead in a series? Either way, I think it’s pretty safe to say that both teams repped by RSBS did a pretty phenomenal job of sh!tting the bed.

That was bad for our health, man. That was one awful, no good, TERRIBLE World Series… unless you’re a Giants fan, of course. No lead changes til boring Game 4. Hitting juggernauts (one wearing three crowns) silenced throughout by the likes of Zito and Vogelsong. Justin Verlander s*%@ing the bed.

For Allen… Would you vote for Romney if doing so guaranteed the Tigers a World Series win?

MandyNiles, MI

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Religion and literature are full of characters who were willing to make a deal with the devil in return for some sort of gift. Adam and Eve received the knowledge of good and evil while Faust sold his soul for earthly knowledge and pleasure. The catch, of course, is that there are always consequences. Adam and Eve lose paradise and the original Faust is carried to hell by the Devil himself.

Baseball isn’t immune from this phenomenon, the most popular example coming from the Broadway hit “Damn Yankees.” And honestly, it’s no surprise that baseball fans (or fans of any other sport, for that matter) would be willing to sell their souls in exchange for their team winning a championship. There’s a reason that supporters of sports teams are described via a shortened form of the word “fanatic.”

It’s a little different for me, though, especially when the deal is so clearly Faustian. The Tigers have always been my team and I follow them from the beginning to the often painful end of the season every year, but my world does not fundamentally change with Tigers’ wins and losses. Similarly, the argument could be made that the quadrennial presidential elections really don’t change much in a country that is held hostage by a two-party system, but I still believe that the President’s power to nominate judges and justices, decide foreign policy and choose how the laws of the nation will be executed means that his or her role is of supreme importance.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the stakes in this year’s presidential election, and any presidential election, are so much higher than one city winning the right to call themselves champion for a year. If the Tigers lose, Medicare will continue to function, women will still have the right to choose and we aren’t going to suddenly find ourselves fighting a new war in Syria or Iran. If Romney wins, these propositions all suddenly become much less certain.

I’d love to see the Tigers win the World Series, even if that looks less and less likely with every pathetic swing of the bat. But there’s no way that I would risk my country’s future or the lives of my friends and family members on it. Faust was willing to make a deal with the devil. Me, I’m not so arrogant.

-A

Have a topic you want to see us Filibuster? Send us your Filibuster questions by emailing RSBSblog@gmail.com or by commenting below.

Admittedly, the Tigers could really use some horses and bayonets at this point if they want to be a little more competitive. But please, just keep all of them, and especially the bayonets, really far away from Jeff right now.

The names were different, yes, but the destruction was equally devastating. Maybe even more.

I’m talking about the EPIC FAIL that was the 2012 NLCS, compared to the one that first stopped by heart 16 years ago. Yes, in 1996 it was Todd Stottlemyre in the role of Lance Lynn, with Andy Benes as Chris Carpenter and Donavon Osborne as Kyle “I Ain’t A Big Game Pitcher” Lohse.

It was Ozzie’s last year, Tony’s first and the first time back to the World Series since 1987 and the uncomfortable early 90’s era Redbirds… or so I thought.

Up three games to one in the best of seven series against the Atlanta Braves, the jockstraps came off a team that simply couldn’t score any runs; and instead of spending the last days of October in complete ecstasy, the 17-year old me stayed locked away in a dark closet, reading Nietzsche by a flashlight, ultimately coming back to the same redundant question: WHAT… IS… THE POINT?

I still don’t know. What is the point? Why get so worked up over something so silly? I wish I knew. And, for RSBS‘ sake, I sure hope Mr. Krause doesn’t have to find out. Not this year. So yeah, um… go Tigers.

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